


Teaching Tool

by Devils_Official



Series: TMGOOD Extras [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Divergence, Dramatic Irony, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-08 15:01:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17388566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Devils_Official/pseuds/Devils_Official
Summary: What would have changed if Sendak stayed after visiting Lotor following the Kral Zera in TMGOOD?





	Teaching Tool

Lotor watched Sendak put his armor on. They didn’t have much time left, and-

He wanted Sendak to stay. He wanted it so badly, like he’d never wanted anything else. 

“Sendak…please stay,” he said finally, unable to help himself. It wasn’t a good idea. There were things to be done yet, even with his father dead, but…

“Alright,” Sendak said easily. He hadn’t gotten very far in dressing himself, so it only took a moment for him to strip off his armor and join Lotor back in the bed.

“That’s it?” Lotor asked, half-teasing. “You’re not going to-?”

Sendak cupped his face with both hands, forcing Lotor to look at him. “Lotor… I heard about everything they did to you. I heard about how you had to run from your father, how your trusted generals betrayed you, how Voltron mistreated you… And I couldn’t do anything about it. Because I wasn’t there when you needed me. I heard about it all after the fact, and I couldn’t do anything, and I’ve never felt so fucking helpless in my life… So if you’re asking me to stay now, I will. I will, without argument, because I don’t want to feel that helpless again. And because I can’t protect you if I’m not by your side.”

“Oh,” Lotor breathed. “I- I’m sorry.”

Sendak kissed his forehead. “It’s not your fault.”

“So you will stay?”

“Yes. I was hoping you’d ask me to.” He pulled Lotor closer, and Lotor let him. 

“This is going to cause problems,” Lotor said eventually. “With the paladins and...everything.”

“Don’t care.”

“Alright.” He pulled Sendak in for a kiss, almost relieved that this wasn’t coming to an end. That he could have this a little longer (or, maybe, if everything worked out,  _ forever _ ). 

* * *

“You seem...cheerful this morning,” Allura said neutrally. 

“I’ve… made some progress, regarding a personal matter.” The reality of it was that Sendak had very nearly made him late for this meeting; he really should be focusing on Sincline, but Sendak could be...persuasive. 

“Oh,” Allura said. “I wasn’t aware- Erm… Good for you.”

“It has taken some of the weight off my shoulders,” Lotor admitted. “And… I would like to…” He really shouldn’t let this wait any longer, especially considering that  _ Sendak was still onboard _ , and could potentially be seen at any time by the Paladins, which would result in a misunderstanding that would be tedious to resolve, at best. “I don’t know how to tell you this, Allura. I couldn’t, before, because of...everything, but now, I fear that if I do not come clean, then…”

She laughed, a little. “What could it possibly be, Lotor?”

“I’m married,” he blurted.

“You’re...married,” she said flatly. “You’re married?”

“I am ten thousand years old,” he said, in his defense. “It would be rather sad if I hadn’t been in some sort of serious relationship by now.”

Her jaw worked soundlessly for a moment. “Fair enough,” she said finally. “When do we get to meet your…?”

Lotor hesitated. “That’s where it gets complicated, because, technically, you’ve already met my husband.”

“...Kolivan?” She guessed.

“No.” In fact, Lotor hadn’t even met Kolivan in person yet. “It’s, uh… It’s Sendak.”

She was quiet for a very long moment, during which Lotor wondered if he should have sent Sendak away after all, if only to avoid this. “ _ Commander _ Sendak?” She asked, deceptively quietly. 

Lotor took a surreptitious step back, out of habit more than anything else. “In my defense, he was also acting as my spy in my father’s Inner Circle.”

“You mean to tell me,” she said, incredulously, “that  _ everything _ Sendak did to us was part of some  _ ruse _ ?”

“Well, if he acted inappropriately, I imagine my father would have had him killed. My gods, he exiled me for disobeying his orders. If I wasn’t his son…” Zarkon would have killed him; there would have been no reason for him to stay his hand. Or maybe he would have given him to the witch, arguably a fate worse than death. 

“Is that  _ why _ you married him?” Allura asked. “I mean, to act as your spy? I don’t mean to pry; I’m just trying to...understand.”

“No,” Lotor said, with a sigh. “That’s not why I married him. Galra usually only marry for love.”

“So you love him?”

“...Yes.”

Some emotion flashed across her face. “Right. Well. It’s just...not an Altean custom. To marry for love, I mean. Especially among royalty.”

“I’m aware,” Lotor replied. 

“I don’t know if I can...forgive him, for what he did,” Allura said. “And I doubt the others can, either.”

“You don’t have to like it,” Lotor said softly. “But we have the same goals: ending the war. And I think we can all overlook our differences if it means peace.”

She sighed again. “You’re right,” she said finally. 

* * *

Sendak ignored the commotion in the other part of the hangar. He didn’t particularly care what the paladins were up to; he was just waiting for Lotor to return from the Rift, and then they could go back to Central Command and make up for the time they’d had to spend apart. 

Lotor hadn’t thought it would take long, but one never knew, when quintessence was involved.

Finally, Lotor’s ship returned, landing gently, gracefully enough that Sendak knew Lotor was at the controls. He’d never really seen the princess fly, but he didn’t need to. 

Lotor hopped out and offered a hand to the Princess, to help her down.

Sendak walked over to him. “How did it go?”

“Well,” Lotor said. “Really well.” His eyes glowed softly, possibly in excitement, and he appeared to be in a good -great -mood. “This changes  _ everything _ ,” he continued. “It was...amazing. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

It made Sendak happy to see Lotor so happy. “But you got what you needed?”

”And then some.” 

“What’s that ship?” Allura asked, pointing to the other end of the hangar. “It looks...Altean.”

Lotor frowned. “How strange.”

Sendak knew that Lotor was startled, and maybe panicking a little, but only because he knew Lotor so well. “It came in while you were gone,” he told Lotor. “I wasn’t really paying much attention to it.”

Lotor laughed softly. “Of course not, darling.”

Allura grimaced and looked away. “Well. We should see what that’s about.” 

She led the way, and Sendak and Lotor followed, with Sendak holding Lotor’s hand in his, squeezing gently, to remind Lotor that he wasn’t alone. 

Lotor shot him a small, yet grateful, smile. 

The atmosphere of the bridge was tense, when they got there. 

“Lotor’s a murderer! He’s been keeping an entire colony of Alteans secret to use in his experiments!”

Well, just as Lotor had predicted. 

The small Green Paladin had shouted the accusations as soon as they stepped into the room.

Ten thousand years of experience had Sendak sizing up the room in moments: 

Five paladins, one ex-paladin, one Blade of Marmora, the princess’s advisor, and one unknown Altean, plus some sort of dog-like creature. 

Lotor had mentioned, off-handedly, that he trusted the current Black Paladin, the one Sendak recognized as the Champion, even if there was something... _ off _ about him. (He’d ensured that Lotor had been able to fight back, instead of simply being  _ slaughtered _ , when his father had demanded his return.) Not the best odds, but not the worst, either.

“I can explain,” Lotor said, taking a furtive step back, away from the room at-large and towards Allura. “It’s not what you think, Allura, please-“

Lotor was trusting Allura to think rationally, when he’d told Sendak himself that he hadn’t seen much evidence of that ability from her. A mistake; Lotor rarely made those, but his judgement had to be clouded by whatever they’d experienced in the quintessence field.

In a split second, Sendak put himself in between Lotor and the princess, pushing Lotor back towards the door, in case he needed to get away. (Lotor would disagree about this, if it ever came up, but Sendak’s life was more disposable than Lotor’s; only one of them was the Emperor.) 

“If you are not willing to discuss this rationally,” Sendak said icily, “then there will be no discussion whatsoever.”

”Sendak-“ Lotor began.

“Why should we discuss this at all!” The Red Paladin said. He wore blue armor -he’d once been the Blue Paladin, Sendak remembered -but he was just as fiery as his Lion suggested. “I’ve said from the beginning that we can’t trust this guy. And it sounds like he’s got some hellacious skeletons in his closet. Plus, you know, his choice of husband.” 

Sendak glared; normally, it was enough to send Corporals scrambling to do whatever he ordered, and even now, it quailed a Paladin of Voltron. He didn’t particularly like people questioning Lotor’s choices, especially since he was one of them.

“Sendak!” Lotor said more forcefully. 

Sendak’s ears turned back, but the majority of his focus remained on the Paladins and their allies. 

“These are the paladins of Voltron,” Lotor continued. “Defenders of justice and peace in the universe. They wouldn’t destroy all that they have accomplished on the basis of one unsubstantiated accusation. For, I assure you, Paladins, if you choose to take justice into your own hands, there will be a reckoning, and you will not like it.”

Half-threat, half-appeal; so very like Lotor. Sendak relaxed somewhat. Lotor clearly had more faith in the paladins than he did, but maybe he had a reason for it. 

“Let’s hear him out,” the Black Paladin said quietly. “That’s the least we can do.”

“How do we know that he isn’t lying?” The Green Paladin asked.

Sendak barely restrained the growl that threatened to bubble up out of his throat. 

“Have I ever lied to you?” Lotor asked coolly. “I do lie, sometimes; I won’t deny that. But it had always been in my best interest to tell you nothing but the truth.”

“But not the whole truth.”

“The whole truth is inconvenient at times,” Lotor conceded. “But all that I have done, I have done to preserve life. Some lives were lost along the way; that is the nature of war. But if we continue down this path, this path of peace and prosperity that so many have only been able to dream of, then their sacrifices were not in vain.”

“Sacrifices?” Allura demanded. “Whose sacrifices?”

Lotor stepped past Sendak and bowed his head. “I have not been entirely forthcoming with you, Princess, out of habit and fear. I have lost too much to be wholly trusting of anyone, my husband excepted. And I apologize now.

“There is a colony of Alteans, and I did start it. When I was younger, when I had just learned of the other half of my heritage, when I was suddenly...free, to do as I liked… I couldn’t stand by and do nothing as my father hunted every single surviving Altean.

“I started a colony in secret, far beyond the reaches of the Empire. I thought so, anyway, but I wasn’t careful  _ enough _ . Haggar, the witch, found out and- Whatever I have been accused of is surely her doing. I do not know, exactly, what went on in that facility, but I do know that it must have heinous, and I am sorry that anyone suffered through that. 

“But I had little choice. She said that as soon as anyone found out about it, if they fought back, if there was even the slightest sign of rebellion, then- Then she would tell my father, and he would bring down the full might of the Empire upon them. And they would have perished, and the people I was supposed to protect would die on my watch yet  _ again _ , and I-“

“They would have fought,” Allura whispered.

“And they would have died! They had no chance against the Empire. My resources have always been meager at best; I never could have given them the support they would have needed. I had only bad choices left, and I did the best I could. I won’t ask for your forgiveness for that; I doubt anyone of you would have made a better choice.”

And then he laughed, bitterly. “Imagine if I’d had what you have: Voltron. Then…” He shook his head. “That is the truth of the matter, whether you like it or not. Darling, let’s go.”

“Lotor, wait!”

“Princess, I am tired. If you want to talk, let us do it later, when you’ve thought about what I’ve said.”

“Just...why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

He stopped, his shoulders slumping; he looked so exhausted, so weary. “Because as soon as I leave here, you will set a course to the Colony, and the witch will follow. And the lives I have tried so hard to protect will be lost, and that blood will be on both our hands.” He left without looking back.

Sendak caught up to him in the hangar. “Will we help them? Provide them aid? We are their allies now…”

“No,” Lotor said softly. “They seem to think they could do a better job; let them prove it.”

A harsh teaching tool, but perhaps a necessary one. Sendak pressed a kiss to the top of Lotor’s head. “Let’s go, then, and leave them to it.” 


End file.
